Flex-watt setups.

[Damian7]

Anybody got any pics of their flex-watt setup? I'm waiting on my shipment from Matt at MGreptiles of Flex-watt and a JC thermo and was wondering if there was any pics I could look at before I set this all up?

[Johar]

found this from google.
hope it helps
http://www.arbreptiles.com/cages/flexwire.shtml

[Damian7]

I appreciate the link but I'm getting my Flex-watt all prewired and ready to go. What I was looking for was pictures of how people have them mounted to the bottom of their vivs. In particular glass vivs.

[monkeywrench133]

What kind of enclosure are you putting the flex on/in?

[Johar]

monkeywrench133 already has some pics for wooden enclosers, but for wood you'd probably need to do extra work.

i dont have an aquarium. but if i had, i'd probably put it under the viv and that would be it

[Damian7]

What kind of enclosure are you putting the flex on/in?

It is a 20 gallon long glass aquarium w/a screen top. It is definitely going underneath on the outside. I was just looking for ideas as far as placement and where to tape it where the therm probe is placed inside the tank (hot side coild side in a hide outsdie a hide etc.)

[monkeywrench133]

Oh, to bad I didn't see your post last night, I just set up a 20 long with hot and cold side flex and two Ranco's.

Couple suggestions

1) get 10feet of 16" wide Reflectix insulation, Matt sells it on his site by the foot. and "wrap" the tank with it. sides, back, bottom and top. I just used clear packing tape. On the top I cut a hole just big enough to for a light, but taped the edges to the lid. This will help maintain your temps AND humidity. People are always talking trash about glass tanks, but IMO if you set them up right, they work great.

2) Now, I'm going to assume from your previous post that you are getting ONE piece of flex, correct? I would suggest two, but one will work for now if money is an issue. Tape the flex at one end using foil tape, again, Matt sells it, I'm sure he suggested some. Then put Reflectix over it. This will help the flex work more efficiently. Tape the t-stat probe to the floor of the tank, in the middle of the piece of flex. then just cover it with substrata. If you did get two pieces of flex, running two t-stats, its ok to overlap the flex a little in the middle. But definitely use the foil tape, nothing else will stand up to the temps for long.

If you have any questions PM me, and I'll email you pics of my setup.


Edit*** Important!!! Get a couple pieces of 1x3 or 2x4 and set the tank on Them, do not put the tank directly on a flat surface. The edge of the tank will pinch down on the power cord to the flex and will eventually wear through the insulation, causing a short. Short in power cord=fire=bad.

[Damian7]

Thank you very much MW. Last week when i ordered flex and t-stat from Matt I ordered 2 pieces of that reflectix one for the screen top and one to go over the flex on the bottom. I will probably order more in the future to fit 3 sides of the tank I saw how you had that setup and think that will work best to keep temps and humidity right. What I was looking for was a picture so that I can see placement of the flex in relation to the bottom of the tank.
So I should tape the t-stat probe right to the bottom of the tank not rest it on top of the substrate like the probe for my acurite?

[rabernet]

So I should tape the t-stat probe right to the bottom of the tank

Yes, between the glass and the flexwatt

not rest it on top of the substrate like the probe for my acurite?

No

[monkeywrench133]

Yes, between the glass and the flexwatt

You can do it either way. My probe is actually in the tank, taped to the bottom, so I've got flex-glass-probe. I do it that way because I feel that with the probe in contact with the flex, it will sense the temp too quickly, which will make the t-stat click on and off more than is necessary. Other people do it other ways. You don't want the probe unsecured whatever you do. If it is, the snake could move it, causing low readings to the t-stat, and overheating of the flex. What you need to check, whether the probe is inside the tank, or under sandwiched between the glass and flex, is the temp on top of the substrata. I use aspen in all my cages, and it absorbs some of the heat from the flex. So, my t-stats are usually set 10-15 degrees higher than what my temp gun tells me the surface of the aspen is. In Tigerlilly's tank hot side t-stat is set at 106, and I'm reading 92 on top of the aspen. Obviously, the more substrata you've got, the higher you'll have to bump your t-stat setting.

As an aside, I had a wired one foot piece of flex that I just plugged in to see how hot it actually got, in 15 minutes it was at 147 degrees according to my Fluke temp gun.